A member of the New Leagues Working Group tasked with decoupling the A-League from the FFA and handing effective control of their destinies to the clubs, Fong fears that unless its just-released recommendations are swiftly finalized the inertia currently gripping the game will worsen and clubs will simply revert to survival mode.
The FFA board has yet to consider the measures contained in the NLWG’s 70-page report, with the state federation’s having the ultimate say if they vote as a block in the newly crafted Congress.
A final decision may not emerge until the end of June, but Fong - whose Indonesian-based bosses at the Bakrie Group run the Roar - said time for prevarication is running out.
“If the landscape doesn’t change rapidly, and the scope for clubs to determine their own futures doesn’t increase radically, I can envision the current owners looking to scale back because the existing model provides no room for growth and the game will shrink if the status quo is allowed to continue,” he told The World Game.
“There’s a limit to how long any one owner can carry these sorts of losses before it becomes untenable, especially if the existing model is allowed to be perpetuated. People will just look to break even.”
A battle continues to rage over how TV money from Fox Sports is distributed with the clubs and FFA haggling over the governing body’s percentage, whilst the State federations seek assurances of adequate grassroots funding into the future.
Fong insisted the clubs were more interested in sustainability than profitability.
“Owners are not looking to push through change for the sake of making profits but instead want to see the value of the clubs go up. Right now that’s all but impossible,” he added.
“Any money that is made would be funneled right back into the clubs.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the reports of Fox Sports looking to significantly decrease the terms of any future deals to screen the competition if it continues to underperform.
“Those those are very real concerns. This is a very serious situation that the game faces
“We want to grow, not contract and to do that we need a new independent competition up and running, sooner rather than later.
“A lot of time and money has been lost, $25 million this season alone by the clubs.
“That’s a worrying figure and we can’t keep hemorrhaging like that.
“There’s three years of the Fox Sports broadcast deal left, and they must be incentivized into re-investing, much like the owners.”
In a worst-case scenario, where an agreement can’t be reached on activating the proposed blueprint of independence, Fong foresees a barren A-League landscape where investment is reduced to a trickle and the competition shrinks further.
“Those owners who remain in situ will be simply looking to just make ends meet,” he said.
“Investment will suffer, and you’ll be faced with stagnation.
“We (the Bakries) bought into the competition because of the perceived transparency of governance and above board institutions in Australia which you don’t find in every justification.
“But what is the point in losing millions every year if the model can’t be changed to provide clubs with the opportunity to add value and grow the league.”
Fong admitted the Roar had put on hold the unveiling of their new head coach until there was “some clarity” over the future.
“There will be a decision made before June, that’s for sure but we need more clarity on the budgets we’ll have available and exactly how much we’ll be able to invest before we act,” he said
“Right now we simply don’t have that.”
